Comments on: Is Unlimited Air Travel a Good Deal?http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/
Common sense advice on money saving tips, how to get out of debt, high interest savings accounts, cd rates, money market accounts, mortgage rates, money management and more.Thu, 08 Dec 2016 20:37:00 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3By: Amberhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1687542
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:45:30 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1687542Ross from your comment you obviously did not look into the Redplane business model at all. They are most definitely NOT trying to fly passengers cross-country. They clearly say the other airlines are best cut out to do this. Rather they are starting with a very straight, sensible hop – NY to DC – and will slowly expand to other short routes in time.

The entire reason it makes no sense to pay for a flight from NY to DC currently is the required 1-2 hour wait time TSA nightmare before you board your flight. You can DRIVE in 4 hours, so it makes no sense to spend up to half that time just waiting in the lounge.

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]]>By: Jen @ Master the Art of Savinghttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1685782
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:12:57 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1685782Personally, I don’t really travel enough to take advantage of something like that. It does sound like a great deal for frequent travelers though. International flights would totally rock!

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]]>By: Stevehttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684852
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:57:04 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684852I don’t fly enough for it to be worth it for me. And generally I have to schedule my vacation time in advance. However, if this kind of stuff is around when I retire, assuming I still like to travel as I do today, I will be all over it.

DH had quarterly business trips planned a year in advance. Did the company bother with buying 25 airline seats (specifically on different airlines or different times so as not to wipe out the entire staff in the event of an emergency 😛 ) early enough to get a discount? Nope, 1-2 weeks in advance they were scrambling, for each and every trip!

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]]>By: Amandahttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684672
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:17:25 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684672Seems like you could go online and change your seats. That’s what I always do. On our last trip we had one flight with unassigned seats. we got to the gate first thing and they accomodated by putting us together. There was a couple with a baby put in the exit row. They very nicely helped them out as well. They made an announcement requesting two seats together not in the exit row and switched them out.

Doesn’t seem like a big issue to me.

However, I believe some people are simply not comfortable traveling and the little blips put them over the edge.

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]]>By: Rosshttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684622
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:16:36 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684622Right on, Jeff. Anyone who understands the airline industry knows that this is going to be a very difficult service to make profitable, and it will certainly be inconvenient to anyone who uses it. Why?

1. The longest range 14 passenger plane currently flying could barely make over 1,000nm and travels, at best, around 2/3 the speed of other airliners. What that means is you will be making tons of stops on the way to your destination and it will take you well over 24 hours to make it cross country. Also, it will be extremely turbulent compared to other flights.

2. The costs to operate 14 passenger aircraft are extremely high on a per seat basis. Most flying to small communities is done on larger, more efficient aircraft (like the Beech 19 or Saab 340), is government subsidized (look up Essential Air Service), and have outrageous ticket prices like $300-$500 one way (for less than 200 miles) and is STILL wildly, wildly unprofitable.

How they can profit by flying someone all over the country for a month for $150 is beyond me. Besides, once the traveling public has a taste of the piston (read: propeller) “tin cans” they use to do this flying, there will be only a trickle of folks willing to sign up.

Please use caution GRS viewers, this is most definitely NOT the value it pretends to be, even if the cost is low.

The JetBlue offer, OTOH, seems to be pretty cool!

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]]>By: retirebyfortyhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684602
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:04:37 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684602The JetBlue plan sounds good since they already have a network. PlaneRed doesn’t sound like a sustainable business model and why are they cribbing JetBlue’s name? YellowSpeedboat next?

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]]>By: Ruhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684562
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:15:52 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684562A budget UK airline was exploring the idea of standing room only tickets on flights- yep, standing up for the duration of a shorthaul flight, clinging to a loop on the ceiling. It was eventually shelved because of safety concerns. I can’t remember if this was Easyjet, or Ryanair (the company that wanted to put pay toilets in their planes).

Imagine if you combined the standing room only idea with the PlaneRed availability? It really would be like catching a bus!

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]]>By: Jaime Bhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684482
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:08:09 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684482I think PlaneRed is a very interesting idea. I haven’t flown in 2 years and I don’t live on the East Coast, but I think this could be a great service for a lot of people. It seems similar to some of the really cheap airfares you could get in Europe (or could the last time I was there, several years ago). Some of the flights were super cheap but they landed in some small, out of the way airports. Sometimes as much as 45 minutes from your destination (I think this was the case for Barcelona). You had to carefully check to make sure it was still worth the money.

However, I imagine in PlaneRed’s case there are plenty of smallish, close(ish) airports in major Eastern cities. In fact, it sounds like a company could very affordably rent their own plane, in effect, if PlaneRed decided to market corporate subscriptions for those companies who want to more reliably transport employees along known routes/times. Lots of applications actually. It would also be great for students wanting to visit home if they live in Boston but go to school in New York. Definitely more information is needed. Like, are these month-to-month subscriptions or are you required to sign a 6mo or 1yr contract? Month-to-month would be Awesome for long distance relationships too. 😉

I do wonder, are smaller planes more susceptible to weather delays? Ice on the wings is ice on the wings, but maybe smaller planes have more issues with gusty winds or something?

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]]>By: Bellahttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1684372
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:43:54 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1684372Small airports don’t get you out of TSA jurisdiction completely. I flew a few years ago on a little tiny commuter from the Boston area to Trenton – when you added in parking in Boston for the train it was faster and cost less than the train. I got my bag searched (take everything out and put it on the table, then put it all back together while the plane is waiting) because while they only had 6 people on board, they have to search a minimum of 20% of the bags – so 2 people got searched 4 didn’t. It wasn’t that much of a hassle but I’ve never had that at a major airport.

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]]>By: Tyler Karaszewskihttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683782
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:18:20 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683782Sounds like a gym membership — the only way they can make money is by convincing people to buy subscriptions that they end up using only once or twice a year. I expect canceling your subscription to be just as painful, and year-long contracts required for the good prices.

It is always exciting to read a thoughtful, provoking, or insightful comment and notice that the commenter has their own blog. I love to find new blogs with intelligent authors that I can add to my daily intake of media.

However, I also notice when you near-spam the comment sections of the other blogs I read, obviously hoping to increase your readership. No, you don’t spam hard enough to get yourself in official trouble. You just leave vapid or cheerleading comments that took little mental energy to produce, and you leave them every day. Blogs by such authors I actively avoid.

I’m not trying to pick on Brian, he is not the only one, just the most recent. I did like his blog when I clicked through to it, but I am increasingly irked by comments like these. Yes, I could just ignore them. I will do that going forward, but it only seemed fair to give cause.

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]]>By: Jeffhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683602
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:14:56 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683602Actually I think it looks like a joke. It is WAAAAAY too cheap to be possible.

A small aircraft/ small airport network like this is an old idea in aviation, but the idea that you can do it that cheaply is insane.

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]]>By: Kevin @ Thousandaire.comhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683582
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:13:40 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683582Thanks for introducing me to PlaneRed. This is very interesting and I can’t wait to see them finally launch!

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]]>By: Katehttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683552
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:49:11 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683552Porter also has them, but they’re bulk packages rather than unlimited ones. We used them when my husband was commuting between Toronto and Ottawa.

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]]>By: Adam Phttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683532
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:46:36 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683532I stand corrected on the Air Canada thing, I never heard of such a deal despite friends that fly all the time for work. I don’t think it would benefit me (and I prefer Porter anyway) but will check it out. I learn something new from this blog every day.

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]]>By: Adam Phttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683522
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:41:59 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683522For business travel, my work pays for the tickets. I don’t even see the invoice or care how much it costs, the secretaries arrange with our travel agents and it’s all just “here’s your ticket”. So…don’t care about the money. If flying from a smaller airport means being further from my hotel when I land, that kind of sucks.

For personal travel, I only get 4 weeks vacation a year. I’m not sure I can fly enough to make that all you can fly deal really a deal for me? Aside from that, Canada is about 100 years away from such an arrangement.

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]]>By: babystepshttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683512
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:37:29 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683512My mom & I used 30-day tickets when I was visiting colleges several decades ago-it was cheaper and easier than separate tickets.

I remember at the desk for initial check-in (this was before non-mainframe internet access) the agent asked if we’d like our boarding passes – yes, we said. The agent then printed out our passes for the entire trip (must have been 10 or more segments each)! We apologized to those behind us in line.

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]]>By: akajbhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683482
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:24:27 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683482Air Canada has also started a Student Pass (I think it’s in it’s 2nd year) designed for students under 25 who are going away fro school.

I haven’t used any of the passes myself (and don’t qualify for the student – too old). But my dad has used them before with good success.

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]]>By: STRONGsidehttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683442
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:18:20 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683442I think this would be an excellent option. I like the concept for business travel, and it would be really nice if you owned a vacation spot in a luxury destination. I know that is a little far fetched, but many people I know have vacation home in exotic Caribbean locales b/c they are so inexpensive. Their biggest expense is airfare, and this would make it much more reasonable.

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]]>By: Vinlandihttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683422
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:03:00 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683422For years, a certain airline has automatically put my daughter in a seat by herself literally every time we fly with them. Every flight we’ve to go up to the gate counter to deal with the problem. She’s eight now, so you can imagine how young she was the first time this happened.

The same airline is the only company so far that has sent our daughter credit card offers. It’s not like they don’t have her DOB on file.

I can see the business case: the airline gets its money up-front, and most people won’t use it as much as they think they will.

I’m not sure I’d be comfortable hoping for available plane seats when I need them, though.

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]]>By: Katehttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683322
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:25:10 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683322At least for the Air Canada ones, one of the major benefits are that all the taxes are included in the initial price.

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]]>By: Amberhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683292
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:16:29 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683292They will never charge for the bathroom because then you will have a bunch of Gerard Depardieus on every flight

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]]>By: Becky+P.http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683282
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:15:23 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683282I think it might be different if YOU were the business (think small business) and needed to travel various places while trying to get your business going.

I’d think it would be handy. My husband just bought a 15 leg trip from Delta for a visit to the states. We paid $1500 but it takes him from Warsaw to Alaska, Phoenix, Greenville, SC and Tampa and then back to Warsaw. But if he had unlimited (but this is over a 2 month period of time)…there could be real potential in this.

I would buy one of these for when I did my national park hopping. It would make my life much easier than dealing with multiple tickets.

Nice post.

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]]>By: Dhttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/18/is-unlimited-air-travel-a-good-deal/#comment-1683192
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:40:40 +0000http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=95852#comment-1683192Among my friends who travel regularly for business, there does not seem to be much pressure from above to buy cheap tickets. They regularly book business class tickets one or two days before departure, probably paying crazy amounts. I’m sure this is not universal in business, but I don’t think the concern about ticket prices is nearly as universal in the business world as it is among pleasure travelers.